Hi Alan,
Thanks for posting this info. I plan on flying to some contests in 2008, so your info. is helpful.
I just shipped 6 of my 4S 4,200 mAh batteries via UPS with no problems. I even brought them into the UPS store to have them package the batteries for me. They said there was no problem shipping them via UPS.
This is the way I would get them to the contest. I plan to ship them to a friend, or the CD, or to the local UPS store. I think this will be much easier than dealing with the airlines. I don't blame the AL for being cautious on this, even a small fire at 40,000' could spoil your whole day. I think in the future more and more people will start using the UPS/FedEx, etc., service to ship everything and just let the ALs transport our butts in a seat to the destination. This method has served me well in the past (RC TX, batteries, art, etc), and has always been worth the few extra $$.
I don't know the UPS "official" policy on our Lipo batteries, and I am afraid to ask
, but my guess is that if you bring them into a UPS store already packaged and just say they are batteries, you should not have any problems?
I would be interested in hearing from others that have had experience shipping their Lipo batteries.